Hijacker Traffic Stop May Be Clue

Published 2:16 pm, Monday, April 25, 2016

One of the Sept. 11 hijackers got a speeding ticket in Oklahoma last spring, and it may be used as evidence against Zacarias Moussaoui, the former Oklahoma resident arrested shortly before the attacks.

Five months before the attacks, Highway Patrol Trooper C.L. Parkins stopped Nawaf al-Hazmi, believed to be one of the hijackers of the airliner that hit the Pentagon. He was ticketed for speeding and not wearing a seat belt. He later paid a fine.

Those tickets became clues for the FBI, The Sunday Oklahoman reported in a copyright story.

The tickets were issued during the time Moussaoui was living in Norman _ Feb. 26 to May 29. Moussaoui attended the Airman Flight School there but did not receive his pilot's license. He was detained in August on immigration violations after raising an instructor's suspicions at another flight school, in Minnesota.

The indictment against Moussaoui, 33, does not explain why al-Hazmi, 25, was in Oklahoma during that time.

"I think the inference they were trying to draw was he was in Oklahoma; Moussaoui was in Oklahoma at the same time," said Bob Ricks, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.

The Oklahoman learned of the traffic tickets after making an Open Records Act request to the state Department of Public Safety. Officials issue a news release late Saturday, detailing the stop.

"I wish I had known more, but that's hindsight," Parkins told The Oklahoman. "I'm just glad I did stop him and did the paper trail on him. That way it could help the FBI or other agencies further their investigation."

Moussaoui is accused of conspiring with Osama bin Laden and with the 19 terrorists who hijacked four commercial airliners Sept. 11. He is set to go on trial in October.

At 6:06 p.m. April 1, radar clocked al-Hazmi going 85 mph in a 70 mph speed zone, records show. Parkins recalled that the driver was short and spoke English well, but said he stops so many people, he couldn't recall much else.

"I just barely remember even having him in my car," Parkins said. Al-Hazmi mailed his tickets and $138 in money orders as payment to the Washita County court clerk later in April. Court Clerk Tena Arganbright said FBI agents picked up the tickets in October.

Moussaoui is accused of conspiring with Osama bin Laden and with the 19 terrorists who hijacked four commercial airliners Sept. 11. He is set to go on trial in October.

At least three others among the 19 hijackers had gotten traffic tickets in the months before the attacks.

Mohamed Atta, believed to have flown one of the jetliners into the World Trade Center, was stopped in Florida for speeding July 5. He was also wanted in another county for failing to appear in court for driving without a license, but the officer making the July stop didn't know that.

Hani Hanjour, believed to have piloted the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, was stopped for speeding Aug. 1 in Arlington, Va.

Ziad S. Jarrah, believed to have taken control of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, was stopped on an interstate highway in Maryland just two days before the attacks.